REVIEW | HANSIK | EDMONTON

If you were looking for Korean food in the city, you don't have to look much further than the southside. The concentration of Korean restaurants located south is handy and great for those living in close proximity, but a pain in the butt for others (particularly northsiders) to make the effort and drive across the river.

While there have been a few Korean restaurants creeping up in the city in terms of latitude (ie. Lee House in Chinatown, Soy & Pepper downtown), there's really no Korean restaurants located northside. (I'm sorry Coco's, but you don't really count.)

Until now.

Hansik, literal translation meaning "Korean food," opened up a couple months ago, possibly as northside's first and only Korean restaurant. Taking over the space vacated by a dental clinic, Hansik is located in a strip mall at the corner intersection of 137 ave and 127 street.

KN started her new job literally across the street, so we planned to meet up after she was finished work one day. For a Monday peak dinner service, there was a healthy amount of customers.

The menu is plenty big, with a good variety of dishes on offer. Prices are also quite reasonable considering that Korean food generally carries a higher price tag. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs as we proceeded to order four dishes between the two of us.

First on the table was our order of tteok-bokki ($10.90), or stir-fried rice cakes. There were two different types of rice cakes in the dish: the long cylinders you typically expect and the sliced variety that you see more often in soups or in Chinese cuisine. Also in the mix were pieces of cabbage, green onion, and fish cakes, all stir-fried with a sweet and spicy gochujang sauce.

The rice cakes were nice and chewy, and I appreciated the slight difference in texture that the two varieties of rice cakes provided. The sauce was spicy but definitely tolerable. I'm a self-proclaimed wimp, so you could probably request for the dish to be spicier even.

KN wanted the dolsot bibimbap ($14.90) which comes served in a sizzling stone pot. "Bibim," which means mixed, and "bap" which refers to rice is essentially what this dish is. Rice topped with a variety of ingredients, mixed together before eating. Toppings included zucchini, bean sprouts, mushrooms, bracken, carrots, beef, a fried egg, and seaweed. You also have a choice between gochujang (red pepper paste) or soy sauce.

The sauce you choose comes in a small side dish, but I would definitely request for more as the dish is slightly bland even with all of the sauce mixed in. As always, my favourite part of dolsot bibimbap is the bits of rice that gets crisped up at the bottom of the hot stone bowl.

KN was also in the mood for something spicy and soup-y so we ordered the jjambbong ($14.90), a spicy seafood noodle soup with mussels, shrimp, squid, pork, cabbage, onion, and red chili pepper. You don't get a lot in terms of seafood but the noodles were the highlight, as they were thick and chewy. Despite its fiery red appearance, the broth was also more mild than I was expecting. It still packed a decent amount of heat as KN and I were sweating and sniffling the more we ate.

For our last dish, we tried the seasoned soy sauce and sweet fried chicken (7 pieces for $15.00), served with the traditional accompaniment of pickled radish. The portion size certainly surprised both of us when it came out because we weren't expecting such a full plate. The fried chicken was a bit different than other Korean fried chicken I've had. The breading was thinner and had a finer crumb. Since we had a lot of spicy dishes, the sweet soy flavour was a welcome change. It probably could've used more sauce since it was only drizzled on instead of coating the chicken.

Overall, the food at Hansik is decent, but more reminiscent of home cooking. More than anything, I'm happy that there's finally a Korean restaurant closer to home.